"Now, for the second year in a row, Microsoft’s live stream was the highest viewed stream on Twitch.

But Microsoft’s Xbox E3 Briefing wasn’t just the most watched live event of this year’s convention… it was also the highest concurrent viewer count of any stream ever on Twitch, pulling in an impressive 1.7 million viewers at its peak.

Microsoft / Xbox — 1.7 Million viewers (1.1 Million in 2017)

Ubisoft — 1.6 Million viewers (986K in 2017)

Sony / PlayStation — 1.5 Million viewers (926K in 2017)

Bethesda — 964K viewers (233K in 2017)

PC Gaming Show — 893K viewers (552K in 2017)

Nintendo / Switch — 679K viewers (292K in 2017)

EA (Electronic Arts) — 528K viewers (676K in 2017)

Compared to last year’s E3, Microsoft’s briefing saw an impressive increase of 600k concurrent viewers on Twitch – which doubled the 818k viewers they had back in 2016.

Microsoft also took an interesting approach to E3 this year by heavily promoting their own streaming platform, Mixer, over Twitch. Their briefing made sure to never mention the word “Twitch” and they even replaced their usual Xbox setup on the show floor with a Mixer booth. A move which is sure to impact Twitch viewership in the years to come."

The Xbox show was the best of this year's E3, by a mile. But, this huge viewership is probably more a result of the fact that they were the first of the platform owners to present. Had Sony gone first, it would likely be the other way around.

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I find it a bit odd that Xbox had the most viewers both this year and last given their standing in the console space. I feel safe in saying PS and Nintendo have a stronger brand/more mindshare, and are unquestionably outpacing them in both console and software sales. Not meant to be a jab. Just highlighting the contrast.